We were going to be trapped in here for forever.
His declaration was enough to get Rix to stop trying to find a weak spot in the warehouse.
“He did what?!?” The redhead stormed over.
“Me, Daren, Jax, Hogo, and…” He pointed at Justia. "Her dad is going to come along as our healer.”
“He’s going to turn a group of deviants into the most powerful force on the continent?”
Sipher was smiling ear to ear. "Do you know why it’s so hard for Adventurers to hit level sixty?”
I shrugged.
“There are no event floors in the fifties. Four, Nine, Sixteen, Twenty-Five, Twenty-Seven, Thirty-Two, Thirty-Six, Forty-Nine.” He listed off all of the event floors. “Those are the floors that Adventurers farm for experience. Without a way to mass farm, most Adventurers get discouraged and stop." He pointed at me. "But you. You’re a goldmine kid. I had to promise that none of my crew would hurt any of you while you’re here, as long as you didn’t try to escape.” He shrugged. "As long as you don’t go anywhere near the lift, you’re free to go anywhere in the bunker.” He raised his voice so that everyone still in the cage could hear. "Let me be clear. If you touch that lift you will be killed and the closest one of my crew will enjoy putting you down.” He looked at Rix. "Especially you.”
“We’re just supposed to stay here until you hit level sixty?!?” Oz found her voice. "For how long?”
“Trent said he was hoping he’d be able to do it in fourteen weeks.”
That was the rest of the semester. I looked over at Oz. "It’s just the first semester.”
The raven-haired woman looked like she was about to cry. “You don’t get it. I keep missing out!” She slammed her fist against the cage. "Do you have any idea how far behind the rest of the class this will put me?!?”
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“What are we supposed to do for the next fourteen weeks while you level up?” I looked at Rix. She’d chew her arm off if she was locked in here for that long with us.
He gave me a grin that told me that I wasn’t going to like his answer.
“You’ve got a teacher right there.” He pointed at Gesai Alard.
“HER!?”
The grin got wider at Oz’s reaction.
“You want to leave us trapped in here with HER to teach us!?!” The raven-haired woman repeated.
“Don’t look at me.” Sipher held up his hands, thoroughly enjoying the emotions the other woman was expressing. "We do have a Summoner’s ring here.” He pointed at the door. "I’m sure once your teacher wakes up, she’ll have plenty that she can teach you about fighting the different types of monsters.”
“But…” Oz looked around. "We don’t have a full team.”
She was right. There were six of us, but we had two Casters and no tank. Granted, I could tank, but I wasn’t sure that I wanted anyone else, especially not an Alard, to know about my stat distribution.
“What about these things?” I pointed at the cuff over my crystal band.
“What about them?” The Bandit started walking towards the door.
“We can’t use our abilities with these on.”
The Bandit leader stopped at the door. “I’ll think of something.” He left the door to the warehouse wide open as he walked away.
I touched Rix on the shoulder and we walked over to a corner of the warehouse. I hated that I wasn’t able to talk to Justia as well, but she was over by Oz and Ren, and it was going to be impossible to have a private conversation without including them.
“What do you think?” I put my finger to my lips. I had no doubt that Sipher was listening to us somehow.
The redhead looked mad. "There’s no way that a fifty four can hit sixty in fourteen weeks, even if they are farming as fast as they can…” Fear crept over her face. "Unless they cause a Floor Break.”
I had heard about them, but never seen one. Supposedly, there was a way for farmers to do it, but considering that it had a tendency to turn into a raid, then get out of hand, it wasn’t a very viable method of farming.
“Do you think Trent would really do that?” I couldn’t believe I was actually asking that question.
Rix closed her eyes as she ran numbers. "For you…” She opened them and looked at me. "Yes, he would.”
“Do you think what he said about this being a paid kidnapping is true?”
The redhead started walking towards the cage. "There’s one way to find out.”